I cant figure out how to upload the pictures. Message me please so I can get them uploaded. A few of us went into the San Isbel Forest, of Colorado and went hiking and then camping, we also did some rafting before we hit the trails. We took one MRE each, a ruck with some socks and underdinkies. I had a water purifier, and we all had bottles and camelbacks. I did have a k-bar and leatherman, by E&E kit (I will take pictures of that tonight), my ruck, extra boots, SIG 239 with 4 mags, wet and cold weather gear.

Great looking trip. Hot and humid can beat anyone down and 4-miles in the right conditions is more than enough. Bugs have their own agenda. Nice photo of that rattler. Seems they have taken a liking to you.

_________________

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing""Do not mess with the forces of Nature, for thou art small and biodegradable!"

Left my place of employment in Niagara Falls, Ontario Friday afternoon at the usual 1630 and drove west headed home, 11 km from work I come to the Welland Canal bridge in Allanburg and as usual it is up for a ship to pass under! It always seems to be up when one is late getting somewhere or wanting to get home on a Friday afternoon!

I join the short line of vehicles waiting at the bridge, shut off the engine, turn up the radio and wait out the passing of the ship. At least its a beautiful summer day.

The sky all around me suddenly lights up in a brilliant white flash of light, it is obviously more brilliant to the east from where I came. Looking that way after it died down a bit I am confronted with an unmistakable and unimaginable spectacle:Click on image to watch video:

A nuclear weapon has detonated in/above(?) Niagara Falls. In the picture below it illustrates what a 750 kt nuclear weapons blast range would be with dark inner red circle indicating the minimum total area consumed by the firestorm and the outer lighter red indicating probable total area consumed by the firestorm. Allanburg is approx 12-15 Km from ground zero:

I jumped from my Jeep and sprinted the 50m to the canal bank running straight down into the water my thoughts being that I might stand a chance surviving the rapidly approaching firestorm/blast wave by getting down lower into the canal water and hoping for the best Although it seemed to take long the shockwave hit in seconds and I dove under and held on to rocks on the bottom. It sounded like a freight train going over my head and something big hit the water. I came up when I could no longer hold my breath another second and the blast wave was over, I swam over to the shore and destruction was immediately evident as the bridge was taken down:

The small village of Allanburg was nearly destroyed:

My immediate thoughts were TS has HTF and fallout, fortunately the prevailing winds were moderate to strong from the SW which would blow fallout towards the NE away from me but the threat was still very present. Relations with "them" had rapidly and significantly deteriorated after the military coup where hard liners took control, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan driving NATO forces out and the clash of naval forces with the sinking of half a US Carrier group including the carrier brought the world to the edge and now this. After those incidents my "preparations" went into high gear including carrying my fully loaded GHB/BOB in my vehicle. No warning on the radio-nothing, I am led to think this may just be round one. I have to "bug out" from this area fast in case the next round was off target a bit towards where I am My Jeep was intact but the electrical system was dead probably having been fried by the localized EMP effects from the blast, the roads were strewn with debris anyway. I quickly gather my heavy weight GHB/BOB and a few items from my Jeep and headed down to the canal again to prepare for a "field expedient" water crossing. I put on an N95 mask that I have in my GHB/BOB as there is the danger of fallout although the winds were in my favour, handy also in case of an "outbreak".

I move 300m north along the canal to a spot where when I cross I can enter into woods, I start prepping my gear by pulling out my clothes I will put on when across and getting my bivvy bag and cords ready:Rucksack goes in first:Then clothes, boots and any other kit. Hanwag SF boots, best boots I've ever owned:"Fluff" up the bag to get some air in it then twist the end and tie it off:I bend back over the twisted end and tie it up as well:Shift the gear around to even it out and I like to tie a heavy cord around the pack/middle to carry and hold onto in the water:If you know you may do a water crossing bring some footwear such as these water shoes, you wouldn't want to cut open your foot and compromise your bugging out:

And into the water I go wearing a PFD as I planned for this contingency and drowning after surviving so far would not be good. Fatigue and/or cold water may overwhelm your abilities to swim and the PFD guarantees safety:Click on image to watch video:

Once across the destroyed bridge is in full view:

I move up the embankment and into the forest and change into dry clothing and boots, ruck up and step off on a 12-14 Km trek to my temporary "bug out location". Not sure what to expect but I'll be following trail systems most of the way as I want to avoid the panic that is definitely out there.

Part II to follow

Last edited by Canadian Guy on Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

So I was pushing along at a greatly deduced rate hoping to cut the odds of either heat stroke or the dreaded heat rash. It was getting into dusk and heard a now familiar load rattle. I must say few things will stop a person in their tracks faster. For some reason dropped my hiking poles when backing up. I was so beat even bending over with my pack on to pick up the poles was a pain. The below video says it all.

hey woods, thanks for showing the docile nature of these little gems!! everybody notice the critter trying to just go away, no aggression. that noise means "leave me alone!!"

BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL!!!! without em we'd be overrun by vermin and disease. . .

nice looking trip! i like the photos, and the area looked cool. i also like the cabin. the river so close during the hike must have been nice. i would not have been able to help myself.... being so hot i would have laid in the river a while.

how did you deal with the snake? did you just go around, or did he take off on his own? also woods walker has you beat with the rattler pictures, nice try though!

again, good looking trip!

We did lay I'm the river for about an hour on day 2!!! Even with it being over 100 with the heat index the water was damn near ice cold!

_________________If you are reading this, I have taken brief control of your mind.

So I was pushing along at a greatly deduced rate hoping to cut the odds of either heat stroke or the dreaded heat rash. It was getting into dusk and heard a now familiar load rattle. I must say few things will stop a person in their tracks faster. For some reason dropped my hiking poles when backing up. I was so beat even bending over with my pack on to pick up the poles was a pain. The below video says it all.

hey woods, thanks for showing the docile nature of these little gems!! everybody notice the critter trying to just go away, no aggression. that noise means "leave me alone!!"

BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL!!!! without em we'd be overrun by vermin and disease. . .

thanks again.

Every rattler I have ever seen and that includes a large Eastern Diamondback encountered as a kid in the panhandle of Florida didn't want a fight. This isn’t to say they won’t defend themselves. Most bites are probably the results of booze and those attempting to handle or kill them. This is one reason why I recommend against some of the crap seen on TV survival shows. Eating something that can put the hurt on a person isn't a risk worth taking. In snake country basic precautions should be taken to aviod accidental contact such as trampling.

On a side note they do eat rodents that are hosts for ticks. Ticks transmit a multitude of diseases. Doing harm to something within the environment that is helping reduce my chances of contracting Lyme disease is bad juju.

_________________

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing""Do not mess with the forces of Nature, for thou art small and biodegradable!"

I checked on Google. Nope those are indeed blueberry pickers and not walkers. Wow that sounded windy. Looks like bear scat to me. How do you like that SF headlamp?[/quote]

I don't know man, they looked pretty scary to me at the time. I ate a couple of the berries and would have liked more. Too much like taking money out of the pickers pockets. These sweet treats will be in the local market soon and then it will be BB heaven. A few days before this outing I ran into a nice patch of the wee little wild strawberries. PITA to pick but well worth it.

It was windy but nothing like the day before. Really ripped there for a while. Ripping so hard I truly was concerned about stepping off onto the side of the hill and getting pushed off balance in the wrong spot.

Not a whole lot of wild life here. Kind of a wildlife free fire, dog pack hunting zone. If it moves shoot it. So I am always pleased to see even sign. On the bear note they still have 2 resturants (which I have never been in) with caged bears. Over my time here I have seen several chamois up high, a lone deer, a couple of foxes, 2 bears, 2 or 3 squirrels, a sad pair of I believe muskrats, 10 zillion million turtles (I guess no one eats them here) and lucky me, a single wolf. Really not a big sighting score for the amount of time I spend aimlessly wandering the woods. On the subject of turtles, I always consider eating one of them myself but don't. In my old age I am reluctant to take even a turtles life with out good reason although I ate more than a couple of them as a young buck.

The SF is quite a lot chunkier than a Zebra and takes a 123. The swivel works like a charm and it throws quite a lot of light. The fat rheostat switch is cool and I like it better than a button or switch. I haven't done it yet but it looks like you could drive a truck over it and it would be OK. Wish it had a red filter and didn't cost so much (not that I really really care, it was a bithday gift). All and all it is good to go if you don't mind 123 batts.

another great post! i like the wood water trough for some odd reason...

that photo of the chopper at the end gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside!

thanks for posting!

I see a those log water troughs all over, really as common as dirt. Most of the springs of any size have been inproved to some extent. There is in (weak) theory a national park here but almost every place is working land. The only indication that any area is a national park are some old rusty signs and a very few trails marked with fading blazes. No map to the blazed trails but I run across them from time to time. Many sheep herds along with sheep herders and their working dogs. My big girl gets along all right most of the time with the working dogs but the (wife's) cocky little yappy POS hasn't learned the lesson yet and would make only a small meal for one of these guys. My old dog was a un-clipped male and was always getting in scraps with the herding dogs, but he could handle it well (sometimes with a little size 12 help) and kind of think he enjoyed it.

The tough part of the walk about was getting the chopper to show up on time. Just s--t luck it pulled in just as I was getting there.

Nice bushcrafty shelter but disappointed in the no rat for dinner thing.

Canadian Guy.

I liked the swimming and bomb damage back story. Looking forward to part 2.

Blackdog.

When it comes to walkers best to take the safe road. The wild strawberry season is long past in my AO. I liked the looks of the SF. My H501 is great in camp but prefer something with more throw during night hikes.

_________________

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing""Do not mess with the forces of Nature, for thou art small and biodegradable!"

Well, it looks like I'm not gonna make it by the deadline. But I was wondering if you'd be able to hold a patch for me if I post up afterwards? I really want to try some of the bushcraft I've learned over the years so when I do post I will at least have something decent to contribute.

Nice bushcrafty shelter but disappointed in the no rat for dinner thing.

Canadian Guy.

I liked the swimming and bomb damage back story. Looking forward to part 2.

Blackdog.

When it comes to walkers best to take the safe road. The wild strawberry season is long past in my AO. I liked the looks of the SF. My H501 is great in camp but prefer something with more throw during night hikes.

Have not done a side by side with my now older Zebra version. The H501 claims 96 Lumens and the Surefire claims 100 Lumens so may not be a giant improvement. Probably would not have bothered to get the Surefire if left to my own devices, but is does "look and feel" rugged. Time will tell.

As I drove home from work I realized that something was wrong. I live in a neighborhood where children are always running around and there is some noise or movement, but today was different. As I made the left on to my street I reached over and muted the radio and realized that the only sound was coming from my vehicle as I drove slowly towards my house. Usually there are cars parked along the street and I quickly noticed that there was 1 or maybe 2 where usually there are twenty. Something was definitely not right.

I pulled up to my house and saw that my wife's car was there, "Good, maybe she will know whats up" I said out loud to myself. As I stopped I saw that my garage door was only half open, and there were some kind of drag/scuff marks along the bottom edge, at this point my senses were telling me something was "Just not right" and I reached down and pulled out my Walther PPS .40 cal pistol (I keep my CCW stuffed down next to my seat when I am driving most of the time) I racked a round in the chamber, yanked the emergency brake, left the car running in neutral and got out to investigate.

The second I shut the door behind me a putrid stench hit me like a ton of bricks....It smelled like that 2 month old possum you run across while walking down the side of a country road, but somehow worse....It seemed to come from everywhere at once, there was no escaping it. So I did what almost every suburban living person would have done, and I contributed my lunch to the ground next to my feet.

With tears in my eyes, and still fighting back the urge to vomit more, I continued to my garage to try and get inside away from the horrid smell. I ducked under the garage door, and realized that the smudge marks were some sort of brown gelatinous type substance, and was contributing to the smell emanating from everywhere. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw that my garage had been trashed. Stuff was strewn everywhere, but after a quick look strangely enough it seemed like everything was still there. "This is no burglar" was my initial thought, but then again what burglar would leave behind brown goo that smelled like the end of the world?

Pistol at the ready I kicked open the door between the garage and my entry way, and all hell broke loose. With a gluttural snarl what I thought was my wife charged me from across the kitchen. Its a straight hallway style kitchen, and luckily she was at the other end of it, because she, or it as I call her now was hauling ass towards me. With a flash of broken teeth she let out a shrill screech and my Walther PPS barked out 2 sharp reports. The 1st shot took her in the nose which stood her up straight and she paused for a second, the second took the top of her head off, and she went down in a thunderous crash next to the refrigerator. I followed her to the ground with my Walther's sights and stood there breathing heavy, blinded by tears waiting for her to move again. The garage door slammed shut behind me, almost making me discharge another round. I was a literal mess. I was blind from the smell and crying, I had just blown what was my wife’s head off, and I had no idea where my daughters were. I could only say a quick "Please God let them be ok" and I knew I had to search the house and try to find the rest of my family.

I turned the corner to go in to my living room, and complete carnage is what hit me square in the guts. Lying in the middle of my living room floor was a pile of dead or dying animals. My dogs were all there, and they were all ripped to pieces. Kenzington my black lab was laying in a pile of her own half eaten entrails, its like someone had taken a butcher knife and sliced her to shreds and then had a feast. When she saw me her tail thumped the floor a few times, and I could see in her eyes she knew what was going to happen. I knelt next to her, my tears a constant patter on the floor, and put her out of her misery. My other 2 dogs were already gone, but I could see bits and pieces of them strewn about the pit that used to be my living room. The odd thing is that behind the mess in my living room it was completely clear, it was like the animals..."Oh my God!" the animals were protecting something! I sprinted up the stairs and ripped open my youngest daughter’s bedroom, and she was nowhere to be found, frantically I called out her and my oldest daughters name "Theren...Raegan...it's Daddy, where are you?" listening closely I cleared the next room, not really knowing what to expect, and praying that my girls were alive. I heard a whimper and saw my oldest daughter’s closet door move ever so slightly. I ran over and ripped it open, and with the Walther leading the way, I saw Reagan’s feet sticking out from under a pile of blankets and stuffed animals. She leapt out at me and gave me a huge hug, and was instantly in tears. I can only imagine what was going on in her six year old mind, and it infuriated me. I sat there trying to calm her down and reassure her that we were going to be fine, but she was too far in to shock to talk out of it. I asked her where her sister was, and all I could get out of her was "Daddy, Mommy was mean to her". Again I found myself stricken with grief, tears flowing freely down my face, snot making it hard to breathe and talk, I knew I had to do something, my little girl was counting on me to protect her, and that was what I was going to do.

We raced down stairs to the basement where all of my guns and our Bug out gear were located. In my mind I wanted to take it all, but I knew there was no way. I grabbed my Olive Drab Bug out bag, and my daughters princess bug out bag (She had to be like daddy, and even though it was a princess bag, it carried her essentials.) I grabbed my Springfield xDM .40, my Glock 22RTF and about 250 rounds for them, and then ran up stairs as fast as I could. I knew if I had to I could return for some more serious firepower, but I wanted to make sure to take something. It may not help much, but having some firepower was a mental boost that I badly needed. As I ran through the garage I remembered I had packed a small cooler with some meat for a picnic we were planning, and not knowing when we would be able to get more food, I stopped and grabbed that out of my 2nd refrigerator. We ran out to the car, and I loaded Raegan in, and tossed the gear in. Thankfully I left the car running, because out of the corner of my eye I saw some more of the "things" shambling our way. I ran around to the driver’s side, and slammed in to something at knee level. I did a complete flip, and hit hard flat on my back. Luckily I had managed to keep a hold on my Walther, because my very flesh hungry neighbor tried to dive on top of me and take a bite out of my chest. She took two to the head, and was dead weight on top of me. I heard my little girl screaming inside the car, I flung the body off me, and jumped up. Through the windows I could see two of the neighbor boys clawing at the side of the car trying to get inside. I threw the door open, slammed it in reverse, dumped the e break and floored it. There were several thumps, and I could see that I was mowing down the population that used to be my neighbors and their children. As we sped down the street I had to swerve to miss at least 10 others, as I didn't want to damage my car and make it un-drivable. Note to self for the future, if there is a future....Scion xB's are not a good bug out vehicle.

Before I knew it we were out of the city and in to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. My destination was Pike National Forest, our family's planned bug out location. There is enough wildlife, water, and shelter able areas there, that we knew we could live there for a long time if the need arose. Sometimes the truth sucks, but I am glad we had at least taken the time to choose a place to flee to.

We arrived sometime after dark; I can't really remember the time as everything seemed to be a blur at this point. I will try to remember it how it went, but please forgive me if I cannot remember all the details. I realized I had my camera in my Bug out Bag, so I started snapping pictures as well to document as much as I could. After marching through the mountainside as much as we could in the middle of the night, we found a decently protected area surrounded by large rocks. They offered some shelter on our sides, so all we really had to do was watch the front of our campsite area for intruders.

First things first, we needed some light, and I wanted a fire. The light and the moral boost that a fire can bring was much needed at this point for myself, and for my daughter.

I broke out the fire steel and after a few attempts got a decent fire going so I could continue on with the other preparations we needed, mainly shelter.

I got the fire going well enough, and made sure that Raegan stayed close to me, we were out in the middle of the Rocky Mountains but there was no way I was letting my guard down, who knew what those things were capable of?

It wasn't much for shelter, but it goes up fast, and will protect us from rain or wind if we run across that, it’s too bad it didn't come with a zombie proof lining. I used to say that as a joke to my wife when we would go camping, how sick is it that I was really praying for that now?

Being six she wasn't really sure what was going on, I am not sure if that was a smile because she was at ease or a smile because she knew I was on the verge of a breakdown, and I needed to see some happiness on her face. Either way I managed to snap a picture of it, and used it to keep going over the next few days.

We sat near the fire for most of the night, keeping it pretty small, not wanting to put off a lot of light to give away our location to anything that might be out there. Every few minutes I would shine my pistol light out in to the forest to make sure that we were alone. We mostly sat in silence, staring lost in to the flames of our little fire, searching for a shred of humanity in what was left of our shattered lives. After what must have been hours I realized that Raegan was asleep with her head on my leg. I quickly set up a makeshift tripwire with the para-cord from my bug out bag – it may not stop something, but at least I would hear it if it got tangled up….hopefully.

We retired to the tent for the night, and even though I tried to stay awake, I was so exhausted that the last thing I remember was the dying flicker of our little fire.

I woke up to a rustling sound, and grabbed my xDm .40 and jumped up ready to fight. My daughter stood just inside the tent, with the door half unzipped with a startled look on her face “I just need to go potty Daddy, and you were so tired I didn’t want to wake you up” I said honey, you make sure to wake me up from now on, we don’t go anywhere without each other” She shook her head that she understood, and we both stepped outside into the morning light to see what the day would bring us.

After taking a look around and making sure we were alone, I was hit by another wave of exhaustion and hunger. I always make sure to keep some type of caffeine in my bug out bag, as I know it can boost morale, and help keep me alert when I need it. I pulled out my little survival stove, and got to boiling some water so I could make some Yerba Mate tea.

The stove worked very well, it took about 3 minutes, and we had a nice steaming cup of Yerba Mate, not only was the hot liquid good for the mind, it was a nice refreshing energy boost as well.

(The flip flops are also a staple in my bug out bag, they are great for when your shoes/boots are wet and you need something to wear while they dry – hence why I am wearing them! Wet shoes are no good for the mind or the body!)

Knowing we had bare minimum to live on until who knew when, I knew we had to find a water source. We had 2 Nalgene type bottles that were filled when we left our house, and both of those were nearly empty. I grabbed my BOB, and Raegan and I set out in search of water.

We hiked for quite a while, resting when we needed to, drinking what little water we had left when we absolutely had to trying to keep our heads in it, and get what we needed.

Finally after what seemed like days we came around a large rock, and down in a ravine we found liquid gold. It wasn’t as deep as I would have liked, but it was wet, somewhat clear, and had a good flow to it.

We both rinsed the grime off of us from the previous day’s events, and then while Raegan searched for fish and anything else we could eat, I got out the water filter, and steri-pen and made sure we had plenty of water to drink for the next 24 hours.

I must say that the water that comes out of my little Katadyn filter tastes a heck of a lot better than the city water I was used to. And even though I really didn’t like the city water taste, I would kill for a taste of it right now, because that would mean things would be normal again. Would things ever be normal again? I guess we would have to make sure we found out!

After we hiked back to our base camp and made sure it was secure, it was time to prepare lunch and start cooking dinner as well. Ramen was on the menu for our lunch, something quick and easy so we could stay focused on our surroundings.

Raegan actually made the ramen for us, while I got the pork loin that I had in the little blue cooler I had managed to snag out of the fridge ready to cook near the fire.

A few hours later we had what would probably be our last home style cooked meal for a long time ready to eat.

Suddenly I had a funny thought, the whole situation reminded me of that song “My Grandma and your Grandma were sittin by the fire….My Grandma said to your Grandma I’m gonna set your flag on fire”…. I know it sounds strange, but when you are pushed to your limits, and have just seen half of your family die, you think of some really weird and random shit.

Here are a few random shots I took of some of our gear while I tried to make the days go by faster

And our supplies that we had in our bags: Mountain house, Starbucks VIA, Yerba Mate Tea, Ramen, spices (salt and pepper) and some snacks. As well as vet wrap, and hygiene products:

As time passed and our food supply dwindled I realized that we were going to need to head to civilization to resupply. With a pistol I really couldn’t hunt for too much food, and the creek we were getting our water supply from seemed void of anything but water bugs, and it was going to take a whole lot of those to keep us fed. After I talked to Raegan and explained what happened, we decided we needed to hike our stuff to the car, and try to make it in to a town to gather some food, and possibly something to hunt with.

Last shot of our little temporary home before we tore it down.

Raegan letting me know she was ready for any action that may come our way:

(Disclaimer: The pistol is an Airsoft pistol, that was very unloaded, and not gassed up. This shot was for comedic purposes only….although I think she could put down some Zeds if she had to!)

After snapping a few more pics of our surroundings, we had the car reloaded, and we were ready to make our cautious but much needed trek back towards civilization.

Just as we finished loading the car, I checked the front seat and found something ironic sitting there almost mocking me as I stared in disbelief:

The drive back to civilization was very uneventful. It was as if everyone had disappeared, or as I thought, “Maybe they were all eaten?” I know ridiculous right? But like I said before when you have gone through what we have in the last few days, you think of some really really weird shit. The mind is a powerful thing, and that can be good or bad.

I can’t really tell you all of what happened after that, I remember the drive being a blur, exhaustion was taking its toll, my mind was running wild, and I kept hearing a weird screeching wailing sound, and it seemed to be getting louder as we drove on. Finally right when I thought my ears were going to burst, and that I couldn’t take any more of this deafening wail, I was jolted awake.

I sat upright, trying to catch my breath, huffing I took in my surroundings, and realized I was in my bed, in my house. Panicking I jumped up trying to get my bearings, and figure out what was going on. I stumbled towards my closet, I needed my gun……when realization hit me……..my wife was still asleep, breathing softly, laying next to where I had just jumped up from, and my alarm clock was beeping its shrill wake up call on the night stand next to my bed.

I've only recently moved from the Southwestern US to Western Australia. In the process, a lot of my bug out gear was left behind - either due to weight, lack of space, or a fear of customs seizing all of my pretty toys. In the past couple months, I've put together what my budget, resources, and location allowed for a new bag. Virtually everything I took out into the bush for this mock bug out was new for me. The second part of this post - when I get to taking pictures of my gear - will contrast the gear I had versus the gear I have. But for now, the bug out!

I started my trip moving northeast by car. I had brought along my iPhone - a fantastic tool, as long as its battery holds out. With or without a signal, it holds a lot of information - books, guides, maps, even a rudimentary compass. The iPhone guided me along the roads making my way toward the outer reaches of a nearby national park.

The landscape was opening up as I moved from the suburbs of Perth out into farm and vineyard country. The sky was getting a bit dark to the east - thunderstorms were forecast for the evening and overnight.

Yeah, I could see that happening. I made my way to the trailhead, and paused beside the beast of burden for a quick shot of the BOB.

The Osprey was brand new. Before, I had used a number of different packs - an ALICE, a Kelty 3900, and a Cabela's Diamond Peak something or other, in that order. The Osprey performed beautifully and was a pleasure to carry.

The trail was open before me. This was new ground. A foreign (literally) landscape. I don't know these hills, this trail, or any of these plants.

Seriously, what the hell is that thing? It ain't a pinon pine, I can tell you that. I'd brought along a big book of Australian flora and fauna in the western forests, but it was way down in my pack and I had a ways to go, with bad weather on the way.

Seriously, what.

Now the weather was moving in. The Osprey had an attached rain cover - I love that feature. The jacket's a Hi-Tec Mystic Mountain. Did very well. Little sweaty with exertion, but the pit zips helped.

Now the weather's looking grimmer.

We're in the middle of Perth's winter, which means lots of rain. The stream was swollen well beyond where it should've been. I doubt this waterway even exists in the summer, to be honest. I'll have to check it out again in a few months.

This meter was marked in decimeters, near as I could tell. Water's not that deep, but it was moving quickly. I didn't see much life in it.

Plenty of this unsettling foam, though.

And more odd plants. I really should get around to identifying these things.

Speaking of things that need identifying, anyone got a guess as to what this is? Besides a handy canvas for graffiti, that is. It was right on the water's edge, obviously, but I'm not sure what its purpose was.

By now, I had found a convenient spot to make camp.

This was a Black Wolf Mantis II two person tent. It was just me, but a two person tent makes it so much easier to haul gear inside out of the weather, and gives you a little more wriggle room when you're inside - something that would become very useful in the next few hours, I discovered.

Another shot of the bag. The little pouch and the knife both live on my belt on either side of my body. The pouch is full of all sorts of goodies - fire starts, compass, survival blanket, Altoids tin, etc. etc. It's more of a possibles pouch, an idea gleamed from a lot of bushcraft sites.

Most of my knives stayed in the US, in storage. I didn't want to try to get them through Aussie customs, so I left them with some trustworthy friends. While down here, I wanted a reasonably cheap knife that I could beat the shit out of without worrying! The Gerber Freeman suited the bill nicely, and its held up nicely to a number of tasks. For the price, it's not a bad little toy, and about the right size I like in a knife. The knife has a nice balance and feels good in the hand. Even if it's a Gerber.

Then it got dark. It got dark very early. This was because of the GIGANTIC DARK CLOUDS quickly moving in on me. I retreated to the tent, then got out of the tent, put up the fly, dove back into the tent, got out of the tent, grabbed my BOB and jumped back in to hide. And the skies opened up. Aw shi

I took a number of photos of the violence raging around me, but the small tent, little light, and an iPhone camera means I got a bunch of blurry, dark shots. Plus, I was more focused on keeping dry and warm than getting pictures.

By the morning, things were clearing up. I grabbed my gear, repacked and got ready to go.

The Mantis packs up surprisingly small.

On the way out, I came across this guy.

There wouldn't be much to salvage, even in a real survival situation. It's mostly rusted frame at this point - nothing for tinder left, nothing in terms of shelter to offer. I couldn't even identify a make on it, much less a year or model. It's been here a good long time though.

The sun had come out just in time to wish me goodbye. I'll do a full and proper review of all gear used and lessons learned in the next few hours, once I get time. For now, I'm off to get cleaned up and get to the pub for a pie and pint! I'll add to this later. Thanks for looking, guys!

EDIT:

I love meat pies. Seriously, America, we need to get on the ball. It's meat, gravy and lard. What's not to like?

The biggest lesson I took from this was to HYST - have (your) shit together. A lot of my BOB is based off the experiences of the Listening to Katrina site, which emphasizes being able to protect your health and wealth in an emergency. My BOB is based around a flash drive and physical copies of all sorts of important documents - my passport, SS card, visa info, everything that might be needed during a disaster that drives me out of my current home. I'm not prepping so much for the end of the world, as a bushfire, or a tsunami, or other local disaster. (I didn't take the flash drive and documents, because hey, if I don't have to take my passport into the woods to lose, why take it?

It took me a good half hour to get everything packed and out the door the morning of the bug out - and then I lost my favorite sunglasses, which meant another half an hour of frantically looking under couch cushions. It's encouraged me to keep this stuff together and ready to go without so much prep time in the moment. An hour's not too much of a delay for a camping trip, but if you're trying to evacuate, it can mean the difference between getting out safely - or not.

I've only recently moved from the Southwestern US to Western Australia.

Speaking of things that need identifying, anyone got a guess as to what this is? Besides a handy canvas for graffiti, that is. It was right on the water's edge, obviously, but I'm not sure what its purpose was.

Welcome to Western Australia. I'm a born and bred Sandgroper (nickname for us West Aussies). Good to see another person from WA on the forum

The structure in your photo is a gauging station. I'm guessing you were following the Avon River somewhere near the Swan Valley from the look of the terrain in your photos. There are gauging stations all along the river, with a few larger ones in Walyunga National Park and Jumbuck Hill Park to the south of Walyunga.

Welcome to Western Australia. I'm a born and bred Sandgroper (nickname for us West Aussies). Good to see another person from WA on the forum

The structure in your photo is a gauging station. I'm guessing you were following the Avon River somewhere near the Swan Valley from the look of the terrain in your photos. There are gauging stations all along the river, with a few larger ones in Walyunga National Park and Jumbuck Hill Park to the south of Walyunga.

Great bugout and hope to be able to catch up with you in the future!

Cheers,

Jason.

Ah! That makes sense. I figured it must have something to do with the river, but I wasn't sure just what.

And your geography's pretty spot on. I was out in the Swan Valley, though I didn't go quite as far north as the Avon River. My original destination was the Avon Valley National Park, but I ended up exploring a small network of trails near Gidgegannup. I think my little stream there is the Wooroloo Brook.

And hey, we should have a WA meet up! There's gotta be more than two of us out here!

We've just found out this is the forecast for the rest of the evening:

IDW28001Australian Government Bureau of MeteorologyWestern Australia

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCASTSEVERE WEATHER WARNINGfor Damaging Winds with Locally Destructive Gusts and Abnormally High TidesFor people in parts of WA southwest of a line from Perth to Hyden to Esperanceincluding the Perth Metropolitan area, Mandurah, Bunbury, Busselton, MargaretRiver, Bridgetown, Narrogin, Katanning, Albany and Esperance.Issued at 4:40 pm on Saturday 30 July 2011

WEATHER SITUATION

A deep low lies to the south of the state with a strong cold front approachingfrom the west. The front is forecast to move through from late Saturday eveningthrough to Sunday afternoon. From late Saturday evening DAMAGING WINDS to 100kilometres per hour could result in DAMAGE TO HOMES AND PROPERTY southwest of aline from Perth to Walpole, extending to southwest of a line from Perth to Hydento Esperance during Sunday morning. IN LOCALISED AREAS southwest of a line fromPerth to Walpole DANGEROUS GUSTS in excess of 125 kilometres per hour could alsocause SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OR DESTRUCTION TO HOMES AND PROPERTY from late Saturdayevening until Sunday morning.

HIGHER THAN NORMAL TIDES are likely. FLOODING OF LOW-LYING COASTAL AREAS ispossible between Mandurah and Augusta. DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS are possiblewhich could cause some beach erosion.

Heavy showers and thunderstorms with small hail may cause local flooding attimes.

The worst weather is expected in areas southwest of a line from Mandurah toAlbany.

WHAT TO DOFESA State Emergency Service [SES] advises people to secure loose objects, movevehicles under cover and stay inside away from windows. If caught outside findshelter away from trees, powerlines, storm water drains and streams. Boatowners should make sure their boats are securely moored. Take extra care on theroads as flooding is possible. If driving through heavyrain slow down and turn your lights on or if visibility becomes low pull overand park until it passes. For SES assistance call 132 500. For more safety tipsvisit http://www.fesa.wa.gov.au

The next warning will be issued by 8:00 pm Saturday.

This warning is also available through TV and Radio broadcasts; the Bureau'swebsite at http://www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 213.

We hope we'll be able to last the night in our hammocks but as our safety is paramount, we may bail on this attempt (do two fails make a non-fail?)

Pic of us using a firering in the national park we are in

We survived!

Some video:

Cheers,

Jason.

Last edited by uneekwahn on Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

I went on a hiking trip through scouts a few years ago. We went to a scout ranch in New Mexico called Philmont. I was part of Crew 617 N. We were a crew of 11 just one person short of getting a cool full crew patch. Elevation ranged between 6K and 12.5K. The trip was 2 weeks, hiking time was about 1.5. I live in Michigan were it is just about sea level, so don't want to forget to breath with your whole lung.

I only starved for oxygen once and it was hell to put it lightly, I did not think the elevation was that bad. We were on our first day of hiking. I was moving at a decent pace, we were single file so the fast people near the front were setting the pace. I had found a decent walking stick, it just felt like exhaustion at first, so I just kept going then it hit me. I clung to the stick to keep from falling. I was gasping for air involuntary like you do when you drown, hurt everywhere, was twitching, and couldn't open my eyes. Had to fight to control my breath to get back to normal, was fine after that.

My pack weighed in at about 50 pounds, then I still needed to add water and group gear. It was not even properly adjusted the first few days of hiking, it cased me a bit of hardship. Just before our guide was to leave he was able to adjust my pack. It then fit more comfortably and was better balanced on my body. I was then able to quicken my pace.

Food, water tablets, tents, bear bags, and cooking dishes were provided to us. We gathered water from rivers mostly, once from a lake. The tablets are amazing, Micropur MP1 by Katadyn I belive. I was able to get some at another scouting event, it was still in testing when we used it in Philmont. It makes water taste great, I do recommend this product, I however have not used it since Philmont. We would split up the Group gear between each other, the food was about a 3 day supply. We would drop off trash and pick up food at designated locations along the trail. Anything that smelled (other than clothes) would go into the bear bags and up a tree every night. This includes your water bottle if you mixed koolaid in it.

Our trip to Mt. Baldy was neat. We stayed at the baldy campsite for two nights. We hiked up from 10K to 12.5K with improvised day-packs, mainly for water and food. The hike is a steep one. Near the top, in the shady area of a few trees, there was snow! Just after the pile of snow we came to the edge of a barren, loose sharp rocky, STEEP incline. I was only able to travel 6-7 feet at a time before needing to rest for air. At the top there was a nearly constant, strong wind. It was quite chilly every time when the sun went behind a cloud. We had lunch and enjoyed the view. I found a cozy spot for a nap. There was a indent in the rocks, they were warm from the sun.

We had a sister crew. They had the same basic route and were dropped off and picked up with us. The difference was that we hiked a lot further, and we even got to the pickup point first. We went Zig-Zaged all over to get to extra things. We out of our way for skeet, (real) rock climbing, and gold panning just to name a few. There was this mock old timey farm where we caught chickens and milked cows, in return they put on a show for us jokes, music, and singing.

There was only one time we saw a bear. We were walking up to a main camp and a guide was chasing it away from the cabin by throwing stones at it. What they told us to do in that area was to get into a group put your hands in the air and make noise. You want to make yourself seem as big and apposing as you can. Then if the bear charges at you DO NOT MOVE, that is right they said don't move. They told us that if you dont move the bear will stop right in-front of your face and leave.

I and 2 others may have had a Big foot encounter. We were out around 10:15 at night, it was dark. A little ways behind the mock farm was a 8 foot tank on a side of a hill. Nearby was a outhouse (without the house), we were in that location. On the other side of the tank, to the left of the tank, we saw a pair of reflective eyes approaching us coming up the hill. The eyes went behind the tank, we soon located the eyes just to the right of the tank and near the top! It was not moving just staring at us, then the eyes dropped from about 7 feet down to 4-5 feet. After awhile the eyes rose back up to about 7 feet and proceeded to head directly right away from the tank. The eyes proceeded to stare at us for a little while until there was a decent bit of space between us.

There was a game that a few played, it was called off a little later. It is called fart baseball, it is a long term game perfect for camping or hiking. If you fart you get to progress to the next plate. Fart once you go to first, est. When you go all the way around (4th fart) you get a point. If a person farts to the base you are on you get knocked off and have to restart. A home run is when you poo your underpants because of your fart. We had a person do this, we then called off the game, he then did it again. A home run is worth 5 points or something like that.

We also had a person who fell into a cactus just a mile from the pickup area. It is funny in retrospect, not being mean.

Hi ZM 1306, welcome to ZS. Thank you for sharing your scout trip. It is not explicitly stated, but I believe an implicit rule of the contest is that the MBO trip should take place between June 1st and August 1st/3rd of this year in order to qualify for the prizes. If you have made a trip in this time period, that would be great to share.

P.S. Everyone, this thread has passed 45 trip reports, at my last count. Hot damn. Alright, let's see the last of 'em get posted soon!

I got off work early on Friday, company BBQ at work, we were cleaned up by 14:00, usually get off at 14:30. I started a new job on Monday of last week, so I'm still getting used to how tired I am, getting up at 5:00 sucks, especially when you're only really getting 6 hours of good sleep a night. I get in the door, drop my lunch bag in the kitchen, turn on the tv to the news channel, and hop in the shower. I send a few texts out to see what everyone's planning for the evening, nothing really mind blowing going on, maybe I'll just have a quiet night in and catch up on some sleep. I can always go out tomorrow night, right?

Wrong.

The TV goes into a confusing news story.A woman was pulled out of water at Niagara Falls today, after jumping into the river and plummeting over the edge moments later. The twist in the story, is that witnesses state that after watching the coast guard pull Christina Jackson's body from the water, they watched from shore as she sat up on her stretcher and pulled a police officer towards her, where she repeatedly bit at his arm. Police were forced to shoot the victim several times. A full investigation has been started by the RCMP. Coming up next; ... I didn't hear the rest, my mind was a fog.

Niagara Falls was only just over a two hour drive from me, with traffic. It's a long weekend too, the roads will be packed as it is, let alone if others are planning what I'm planning. I'd better get a move on, if I'm lucky the back roads won't be full yet.

I grab my Grey Man BOB and my Urban Bug Out Belt and head out the door. Knowing the fan blades are about to get dirty, but not knowing how many people have realized it, I avoid the elevators in my building, down 19 flights of stairs to the lobby, then down two more to the basement to the parking garage. I hop in my car, turn the key; my engine starts up, I pull forward about a foot, and it dies. WTF. My gas lights on, the gauge is on empty, SOMEONE MUST HAVE SIPHONED MY FUEL!!! I knew I should have bought a locking gas cap before starting a job where I walk to work. My spare jerry can is empty, and I know the pumps will be busy enough with long weekend traffic, even if no one is "Bugging out" (yet).

I move quickly back up to the lobby and out the front door of my building. Everything looks normal, no one is running in panic, some people are even just standing around talking casually in the midsummer heat. Those fools. Walking down my road I decide to stick to the subdivision road longer in order to avoid too much time on the busy street that leads out of the city.

Before long I'm exiting Toronto and entering Vaughn (The City Above Toronto, my ass)

The walk through town is still uneventful, everyone seems to be going about their daily lives. I know a lot of people don't follow the news, so they wouldn't feel the urgency to get out of the city that I'm feeling. After two and a half hours I'm behind Canada's Wonderland, the theme park is still busy with people enjoying what could be their last days of civilized life.

Vaughn is mostly urban sprawl. Almost entirely townhouses with very few high rise condos sprinkled throughout. Because of how the suburbs are developed, North of Teston road the landscape changes drastically. South of Teston is rows of suburban cookie cutter houses. North of Teston, is farm land. Being grey becomes much more difficult past this point. There are no urban advantages like sidewalks, so you're just that guy walking on the side of the road. Another problem is that most of these farm houses have been in the same family for three or four generations at least. People know each other, they know who belongs. One of the first houses I walked past once I was out of the city had a few people sitting out in the driveway enjoying a few drinks, I know a couple of them watched me as I walked past.

End of the suburbs

Start of farming land

Continuing my route north I watched as cars passed me in either direction, I noticed very few people who were driving past me were watching me on their way into the city.

After about four hours of hiking I found myself somewhere worth making camp. This is when some problems started up with my equipment. One of the first things I noticed about the area I was in, is the bugs were horrible. How could I have not packed bug spray when I added things to this kit to make it overnight worthy? A quick change from shorts to pants and unrolling my sleeves left me with just my head and hands uncovered, which at least aloud me to settle in a bit. once I had camp a bit more set up I REALLY wished I had brought a bug net for my head. While pulling dinner out of my pack I saw my shemagh, of course! Quickly tying it up leaving only my hands and eyes exposed, the bug problem was almost nullified.

Me with shemagh improvised bug protection

The pasta dinner was very satisfying, even eating it cold (NTS: This pasta is better in teriyaki than Kung Pao). Once I was finished dinner I rinsed out my bowl in the near by creek. I then walked back along the creek a bit to a point where the water wasn't as murky as where I had stopped for camp. I filled my water containers and went back to camp.

Water near camp site

Water up the creek a bit (cleaner)

Pasta dinner

I pulled out my battery booster for my cellphone and plugged it in. I was running the "Map My Run" app which tracks your speed, elevation, time and distance, It also can kill your cellphone battery quickly. When I left my apartment I had about 96% left. by the time I made camp I was at 24%. The booster packaging claimed to boost by up to 75%, and was solar assisted. I ended up getting only 12% out of it. I was very disappointed. I don't know if maybe it hadn't been fully charged, or if maybe it really sucks without the solar assistance, but I as quite discouraged by the lack of extra power I received from this product. While I had my phone out I checked in with a couple people I had told I would be out for the evening, and was happy to hear back that the zombies had not yet reached Toronto or the area I was headed too.

Because this BOB wasn't originally designed for a night out, I'd picked up a few things for shelter. One being a Sea to summit reactor extreme sleeping bag liner, the other an Adventure Medical Kits Thermal Bivvy. Here they are pictured together.

At first I tried using the sleeping bag liner as you normally would, and sliding inside of the bivvy. I was too warm and the bugs were attacking my face again (I used the shemagh as a pillow). Then I tried curling up inside of the bivvy and closing it around me. The bivvy hardly closed, and just as I would start to fall asleep, a few bugs would find their way in. For my final arrangement I pulled the sleeping bag liner over my head, to my waist, cinched it tight there, and slipped inside of the bivvy. I wore my hat sideways, using the beak to hold the material away from my skin, so I couldn't get bitten through the fabric.

Sleeping on the ground sucks. While I was warm enough, every time I would roll over in my sleep I would find another small stick I had missed when I cleared the area for the bivvy bag. I'm sure If I had set up camp earlier I would have had more daylight to utilize and been able to clear up better. I only slept for about 6 and a half hours, waking up damp inside of the bivvy. Getting up quickly I was able to pull on a dry shirt, and retie the shemagh around my face, although the bugs weren't as bad in the morning as they had been the night before. I stretched out for a few minutes while I the initial shock of going from the humid bag to crisp morning air slowly faded. I had a small breakfast (Granola bar and sesame snaps) and started to clean up camp.

For some reason, although I had less IN the bag, it felt more full and harder to close when I left the camp. As I walked out I dumped what was left of one of my water containers so I could purify another full liter with tablets, and it would be clean by the time I had drank the other bottle and remaining powerade. I threw the bag of almonds in my pocket so I could snack on them while walking, as I knew breakfast wasn't large enough to keep me going.

In reality all I was doing was walking today. If I were in a real bug out situation I would have continued North, but I turned West and then back South to end up back in the city close to the 24 hour mark.

The morning moved well, my legs were slightly stiff from the hike from the afternoon before, but I was holding a good pace. While walking I noticed I was getting a lot more "WTF" looks from people who drove past me. might have been the hour of the morning, could have been the area I was walking in doesn't usually have pedestrians, but before long I was onto another road that led in and out of the city,and people noticed me less. I'm sure the drivers who didn't look at me while close had eyed me while they were further back, but I don't think there's anything I could really do about it, they're going to notice the only person on the road before 8am.

Once I was back on the North/South road people became more frequent. The part of the city I was walking back into was a more ritzy place where people tend to want to be idealized. There were a few joggers out, and lots of cyclists riding either solo or in packs. The solo joggers and cyclists seemed to awqknowledge me more than anyone else, either with a slight wave of the hand or a nod of the head, two people even said good morning to me. All this attention really made me feel like I'd failed as a grey man.

by 11:00 I found myself pretty warn down. I hid in shady areas, taking frequent breaks. Not really anywhere in town that you can purify water from, so I had to reserve my water to when I absolutely needed it. By the time I was nearing my apartment I noticed my pace was much much slower than it had been. What took me under two hours to walk the day before, now took me three. The shaded areas along the road were slim as the mid day sun left only shadows of buildings tight to the walls, and directly under trees. I could feel myself getting burnt, and the dehydration was wearing me pretty thin. I paced myself against people walking the same direction as me on the opposite sidewalk. I was still walking faster than most people, but definitely not at my usual pace. With about 40 minutes to my apartment I crossed the street, with a woman in her 50s coming the opposite direction. I hardly made it to the center line of the road a step before she did. Moving faster than people is important, as you need to outrun at least one person to survive a zombie attack.

The final stretch before my road down and back up a hill in front of a golf course, and the down felt so much worse. I had to stop and rest a few minutes at the bottom of the hill, finishing my water. I looked through the fence of the golf course and couldn't find a water feature anywhere within site, even if this were a real emergency I wouldn't be able to find water in places I would have expected too. Climbing back up the hill I felt a bit of adrenalin kick in, my apartment was in sight. Down a lesser hill (which still hurt) and I was on my block. A bout 100 meters down my street and a guy came out of a house opposite of me, I paced myself against him, and I was winning. This was a great booster to my confidence, but I know if we had to run from something undead, it wouldn't be me who made it.

I reached my building lobby, and decided to risk the elevators, as I probably wouldn't have made it up the stairs anyways. I get into my apartment and check the time, 16:03.